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Topic: The Great Firearms-Thread (Read 28451 times)

Due weather issues we weren't able to sight my rifle in, so we took our time with the preparations, like aligning the scope vertically and dry-sighting. We also prepped our shooting range by clearing the line of fire and building the target itself, as well as reinforcing our shooting table. Pictures:

The target: wooden paneling that was removed during our sauna renovation, some 2/4s, nailed together, and planted in the ground. The area behind is solid rock, so the shots should stop there.

The table and the range: As you can see, the range is on a clearing on our land, so that we can see if someone or something wanders into the firing line. Distance to target is 165 meters, which is more than adequate for shooting birds out of treetops.

Had a weird malfunction in my shotgun today, the shell extractor didn't remove the empty shell from the chamber, but skipped over the rim and I wasn't able to close the action and had to break the shell free with a knife. On closer inspection I saw that the brass was swollen unevenly and the firing cap had a hole completely through it. So our first and only explanation is a firing cap malfunction.

I've had a weird experience with my shotgun too. It's a 12/76 over/under and I had loaded two 54g Magnum 76mm shells. I shot at a goose or something and the thing kicked my shoulder so hard I was taken by surprise and had to take a step back to keep from getting knocked over. Upon reloading I noticed that both shells had been fired at once. It's never happened since.

It is just a shitty Baikal though, which perhaps explains it. One of the extractors failed to work once as well.

My dad had a similar experience with his Valmet 212 12/70 O/U shotgun, but that was due extreme cold, and something had frozen inside. Oh, and my shotgun is a Valmet 112 12/70 O/U.

Now dad's got a Vursan 2000(or Stoeger, as the Amerikaner call them) semi-auto in 12/76. Dad's current rifle is a Baikal IJ-18M in .222 Rem, and since he's very crafty, he's made all the wooden furniture in it by himself, and also built the bipod as well.

I know that my dad's oldest Beretta EELL has a very worn down extractor on the top barrel. Every time I use it I'm careful to make sure the cartridge doesn't slip under it when I'm loading it. Seen it happen to someone else, though I couldn't hang around to see how they fixed it. Still, I prefer it to his other gun, since that one weighs a fucking ton and has longer barrels and has a safety that doesn't engage when the barrels are opened.

Also, I knew someone who was infamous for their old side by side gun that had a tendency to double fire. Made a hell of a noise when it did. He was such a tight bastard that I think everyone was surprised when they saw him with a new gun that he'd bought.

Weather took a turn to the best possible, so we got out to the range and sighted the rifles in:

The view at the target through the Bushnell Banner 6-18X56 mounted on my dads Baikal.

Me, aiming:I love Boonie hats as shooting hats, they protect the eyes from the sun very well and from a wide angle.

And the most important things, the groupings:Top right, circled red: 1st group, shot by me. This would've been good enough, but dad instructed me to adjust two clicks left.2nd group: Leftmost red, again by me. As you can see, the correction was too much, so i put it two clicks right again.3rd group, blue, shot by me: the bottom shot was a runaway, the one above is consistent with other shots, so we decided that this was good enough.4th group, top red, shot by dad: Nothing to say here. Seems like the rifle is properly zeroed, and I'm able to shoot at 200 meters by aiming at the center of the target, and at 100 meters I'll need to aim 5 cm low.

Well, last october I shot a capercaillie, one of the most valued game birds in Finland, with my dads Baikal from 145 meters away after stalking it for about 15 minutes and trying to find a clear line of sight.

Ill never forget the first time i shot an ak. I have a scar over my right eye, not from the ak but from the scoped 270 i shot afterwards, my eye absorbed the recoil, nobody told me! I remember ak felt "sweet" , perfect for my 11 year old fantasies. Ive never seen a garand that i can remember.